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During the 1970s and 1980s, Clacton
changed from a leading holiday resort to a much quieter backwater,
particularly following the closure of the Butlins Holiday Camp in 1983.
The town’s population became more elderly as the Tendring Peninsula
attracted many who were looking for a quieter life. The town’s industry
was insufficient to retain the younger population, and the holiday trade
became restricted to a few hotels and caravan parks, together with
day-trippers from London and south-east. Like many other seaside
towns, Clacton had a lot of adjusting to do, with new problems to face as
the guest houses and hotels moved away from providing holiday
accommodation to offering permanent residencies. All these factors
affected and influenced the Church and its ministry.
By 1990, the Church was very different and was now serving
a much-altered community. The challenges of this past decade have
continued to shape our ministry, but we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude
to all the many servants of God who have played their part in this story
of God’s work among us.
In 1991, Rev.
Stephen Biddall was called to the pastorate at Pier Avenue, having served
for nine years at Hainault Baptist Church, London. The following year a new project was
agreed by Church, which entailed the removal of several pews from the back
of the Church, and the construction of a coffee lounge in place of the old
vestibule. This work, together with the inclusion of a new crčche and
kitchen area, was undertaken by the Church fellowship. The resulting room
called as the ‘Friendship Lounge’ has become, in many ways, the heart of
the Church as it is used for many activities – in particular the ‘Open
Door’ (coffee morning) project, twice a week.
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Over the next few years, several changes occurred to Church
life and its regular activities: ‘Afternoon
Fellowship’ for men and women replaced the Women’s Own and the Baptist
Women’s League meetings, the ‘Piglets’ toddler
group was started in 1992. The Church Choir was disbanded in 1993,
to be replaced by a ‘worship group’ of singers and musicians and a youth
group, initially known as Saturday Night Youth Fellowship (SNYF),
attracted many youngsters. successful first Christmas bazaar was
held in 1994. The first Church Houseparty was occurred at Overstrand,
Norfolk in 1995, the first of many such weekends which have been so
helpful at deepening friendships and fellowship. In the same year,
the Church’s windows were re-leaded as a result of corrosion to the iron
frames.
In 1996, the Church Playgroup, started
by members under the leadership of Rev Stephens’ wife, celebrated its 25th
Anniversary. Sadly, the Playgroup was disbanded the following year
because of changes in Local Authority registration procedures.
Additionally, work began to tarmac the Church car park, providing space
for twelve cars – a project first proposed in the 1930’s!
In 1997 the
Girls’ Brigade Company celebrated its 75th anniversary with
a reunion and party. Our church also hosted the Civic Service,
as Rev. Stephen Biddall served as Chaplain to the Chairman of Tendring
District Council, Mr. Frank Baker. Stephen Biddall was also
elected President of the Essex Baptist Association, which held its annual
meetings in Clacton for the first time in many years.
The following year, further
refurbishment involved moving the choir stalls from the side of the Church
to create a ‘worship’ area. A new cover was made for the baptistery, and
the Sanctuary was re-carpeted. Major work was also done to the manse.
By 1999, the Church had developed
close links with Holland and Thorpe-le-Soken Baptist Churches. This deepening
relationship was formally recognised as a ‘cluster’ and has led to greater
mutual support and cooperation in mission between the three churches. We
were able to become more closely involved in ‘Churches Together in
Clacton’ with our then Church Secretary, Duncan Wood, who served as
Vice-Chairman for several years.
In 2000, we launched our ‘Centenary
Building Project’, in 2001 we were named as ‘Church of the Year 2001' by
the Essex Baptist Association and in 2002 celebrated our centenary.
There were many events in the
Church celebrating 100 years of worship at Pier Avenue. We were
happy to look back and reflect on what the Church and its officers and
members had been able to do and as we celebrated and we also looked forward to
how we might serve our Church, its organisations, and the wider community
of our town in the years ahead.
In 2006 Stephen Biddall felt the call to serve
at Cecil Square Baptist Church in Margate. Stephen had been instrumental in ensuring
that the Welcome Centre project come to fruition, and as we said goodbye
to him and Nicky in
August 2006, construction had already started and building was well under
way in this new phase of Pier Avenue's history.
In 2006-07 construction of Phase 1 of
the Centenary Building Project (now re-named The Welcome Centre) took
place. This new hall replaced the Iron Hall, a corrugated iron structure that
had done magnificent 'temporary' service for 78 years! It was
impossible to bring the old Iron Hall up to modern day health & safety and disabled
access standards, and so it was demolished to make way for The Welcome
Centre. This has now given us a modern space that we believe will benefit
our organisations and the local community. We were pleased to
welcome Stephen Biddall back to lead us in our celebrations at the
Thanksgiving Service and Opening Ceremony in July 2007.
Throughout the Autumn of 2006 and the
Spring & Summer of 2007, the Church prayerfully sought the person that God
wanted to lead PABC in this next stage of its life and at the beginning of
2008 we were delighted to welcome the Rev Sean Fountain as our new Minister.
One of Sean's earliest tasks was the
happy one of informing the fellowship that the atrium, Phase 3 of the
Welcome Centre project, should be built within two years, thanks to a
magnificent gift from a member of the Church Fellowship. We give
great thanks to God for His generous provision as our facilitator,
provider and friend. The fellowship will add to this gift so that
with further giving of our own and further requests for grants, we can
build a new shower and toilet block. When all this is complete, we
will have magnificent premises that can be enjoyed and appreciated by all
our users.
This brief historical outline does not
do justice to the dedication and loyalty of all who have played in their
part – and still play their part – in the life of Pier Avenue Baptist
Church. We thank God for the past, we celebrate the present and we look
forward to the future with
confidence and joy.
- Telephone the Church Office: 01255 474391 or
email us
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